I finished watching all the seasons just the day before yesterday, including Crystallized part 1 (but I won’t rank that), so I thought I’d share my opinions on them. (Also I didn’t watch the pilots)
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Secrets of the Forbidden Spinjitzu - Fire: Overall an uninteresting and boring season, with a forgettable villain and the repeat of snakes for the fifth time. Aspheera seems to know only the words “revenge” and “destroy them” and is more or less a one dimensional villain whose only goal is revenge. The only good things to come out of this season are the Wicked Whip and God forbid, “bro bro goo goo”. A 5/10 at best.
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Hands of Time: This season is the definition of wasted potential. Krux and Acronix could have been really deadly and powerful villains due to them controlling the very fabric of the universe, time itself. However, they were just reduced to comic relief villains due to poor writing (I’m looking at you, Acronix), and the Vermillion Warriors were, you guessed it, snakes for the nth time! Granted, the Time Twins being funny was not all a bad thing, as it helped to make the season a bit more bearable to watch. But I have to admit, the Iron Doom is very impressive, and the ninja suits were pretty good. Maybe a 6/10.
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Day of the Departed: Pretty forgettable, nothing too much of note here rather than previous villains like Morro, Kozu, and Cryptor being brought back just for fan service. Basically the only reason for this is to explain how Cole got his body back, and to give Sensei Yang a bit of redemption. Overall I’d give this a rating not too far from HoT, maybe a 6.5/10 at best.
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The Island: Similar to DotD, nothing really of note happens here. However, I do like how it sets up nicely for Seabound. If the writers were going to make Ronin the villain, it would have helped to reveal him earlier rather than the last few minutes of the last episode. But I have to admit, I absolutely hated the intro music for this mini-season. I’d give this one a 6.75/10.
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Secrets of the Forbidden Spinjitzu - Ice: An improvement over the Fire Chapter of Season 11, and the plot twist of Zane being the Ice Emperor was interesting. I thought that Lloyd’s and Akita’s subplot was decent. I also like how Vex was manipulative and clever in picking Zane to be his emperor so he could easily secure himself a high position and exact revenge on the people that abandoned him. 7.25/10
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Rebooted: I think this season was alright, not the best, but not the worst either. It did a fine job of accomplishing its purpose of rebooting Ninjago and giving it a fresh start from its planned conclusion at the end of season 2. However, the love triangle subplot did get cringe at times, and I was not a fan of that. Zane’s sacrifice, on the other hand, is one of the best moments of all time throughout the show. 7.5/10
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Rise of the Snakes: This season was pretty good for a first season, and set up the Serpentine and Pythor really well. Pythor was a great villain, and we also got to see how child Lloyd developed into the Green Ninja, and how that affected Garmadon as well. We also got to watch the ninja reaching true potential, which was also very nice to see. 8/10
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Legacy of the Green Ninja: I thought the filler episodes were decent, but I really liked the finale and how Lloyd turned into the Golden Ninja. Also seeing Garmadon purified and reuniting with Misako and Lloyd was a very good scene by itself. 8/10
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March of the Oni: This season felt a bit rushed with it being only four episodes long, but I don’t think it’s deserving of the hate it gets. It was pretty decent in my opinion. The Oni, and especially the Omega, are a very cool concept, similar to the Makuta we all know and love, but it could have been executed a bit better, but again this all just boils down to the shortened length of the season. Even though Cole’s supposed death could have been stretched out a bit more for emotional effect, I thought it did well in making Garmadon rethink his ideals and what life means to him, thus influencing his decision to ultimately help the ninja in the tornado of creation at the end. I felt that the ending with all the characters and the mural in the monastery and Jay’s proposal, albeit a bit quaint, had the perfect sense of finality and was done beautifully. 8.5/10
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Seabound: Out of all of the 15 seasons of Ninjago thus far, I felt that I was let down by Seabound the most. I’d say that Seabound is a bit overrated for what it ultimately turned out to be. It’s not all bad though. Seabound definitely made me like Nya as a character more, and I enjoyed the emotional moments between Jay and Nya, and loved how the background score tied in well with them, like the scene right before Nya merges into the sea where she silently confesses her love for Jay. But, I do feel that the final battle was anticlimactic, which was a bit disappointing than I would have preferred. After all, Nya just broke the Wave Amulet. In my opinion Wojira felt like another version of the Great Devourer, and it ultimately felt like a reskin of season 2 (or 1). Wojira’s defeat was also lore-contradictory, as when Nya defeated it by just breaking the Wave Amulet it seemingly winked out of existence with one of the amulets still on its head, whereas it was stated earlier in the season that Wojira was previously defeated by the first Water master by removing BOTH amulets and handing them over to the Islanders and Merlopians. The impact of Nya’s sacrifice was ultimately negated in season 15 by bringing her back in the first few episodes in one of Ninjago’s classic death fake-outs, which I’m not at all a fan of, and then bringing her character arc back to the beginning by making her Samurai X again. Seriously, if you’re going to immediately revive a dead character you shouldn’t have killed them in the first place. Also snakes? again? really? the Maraay guards may not be snakes, but they sure look like them. Also Wojira was essentially a sea snake with wings (did it have wings though?). Kalmaar was powerful on his own, but his motive was essentially a generic villain motive of hating everyone else that’s not of his species, which I didn’t really like. Overall a very decent season, just a step down from what the hype made it to be. 8.6/10
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Prime Empire: Contrasting with Seabound, for which I had high expectations, I had my bar set real low for this season. I had looked at the sets, and I was not a fan of them at all. But, I ended up being pleasantly surprised as Prime Empire turned out to be one of my favorite seasons. I really enjoyed the video game aesthetic, and the suits in my opinion are some of the very best Ninjago has put out. I also really liked how Unagami was able to get redemption and change for the better, similar to Morro in season 5 and DotD. He also felt very imposing and menacing, and I liked how NPCs in the game like Okino and Racer Seven were able to free themselves and choose their own paths instead of obeying the game. 9/10
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Possession: Morro was a really compelling villain with a sad backstory, and he had also beat the ninja several times throughout the season, which also makes him powerful too. I also liked the overall theme of the season, and how Stiix was portrayed as a city. Ronin as a character is also really interesting (at least, until the Island), and Nya turning into the Water Ninja was also nice to see. 9.25/10
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Sons of Garmadon: Similar to Prime Empire, I was also apprehensive about this season, mainly because of the new ninja designs. But yet again, I was proved to be wrong. The art style and the visual effects were simply a sight to behold, especially after Hands of Time. I really loved the new makeover Ninjago City got, and at first I initially hated the ninja redesigns, but over time I got over them, and now they look pretty good to me. Harumi also felt like a really good villain, as she used Lloyd’s weaknesses to her own advantage and ended up taking the third Oni mask. The fight scene in the cave was also really well pulled off and was well choreographed. However, the scenes with baby Wu and Cole were what made this season awesome for me. Because of his “father” role in season 8, Cole instantly became my favorite ninja along with Jay. This season would have been even higher on my list had it also tied up the loose ends from Hands of Time, which include how Wu got out of the time vortex, and what ultimately happened to Krux and Acronix. 9.25/10
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Tournament of Elements: Chen was a very funny and memorable villain, but also was very threatening as he had accomplished his goal of stealing all the elements and turning into (impostor) Anacondrai. I believe he made a formidable foe for the ninja, and I also liked that more elements were revealed, and elemental masters who debut in this season are brought back in the future multiple times like Karlof and most notably, Skylor. I like that we got to see more of Lloyd bonding with his father after a lot of missed time, and Garmadon’s sacrifice was very poignant and well done. Also the season’s intro is awesome. 9.5/10
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Hunted: I love that this season is just the original four ninja and Wu, and I love how it focuses on Wu’s second growth cycle, learning things in return after teaching the ninja for so long. The Dragon Hunters are a very interesting bunch, most of all Faith and Iron Baron (but what exactly was his motive?). It was also kinda sad to find out that the Ultra Dragon was killed for Iron Baron’s throne. 9.7/10
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Master of the Mountain: I absolutely loved this season. Everything about MotM was epic. The theme song is epic, Shintaro is epic, the dungeon and skull motif was epic, not to mention Grief-bringer, Cole’s character development was awesome, and I loved the emotional flashback with his mother. Skull Sorcerer was also an awesome villain and definitely looked the part, but his motive was rather bland and generic. However, the plot twist with Vangelis being the Sorcerer was interesting, and Vania and the Upply were funny characters. The real cherry on the top though was the final battle scene. Cole doing the Spinjitzu burst and absolutely destroying all the skeletons and Grief-bringer in one move was a real sight to see, and the background score made it all the more awesome as Cole finally honors the legacy of his mother. 10/10
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Skybound: The whole idea was very well executed, and even now I feel that Nadakhan is the very definition of a perfect villain, having a compelling motive (you can’t blame a guy who saw his home crumbling before his very eyes and who was told by his father that his relatives had all died) and capturing the ninja one by one using nothing but his mind and superior manipulation tactics. I also loved that Jay was thrust into a major protagonist role instead of being sidelined as the funny guy, and the ending scene and climax where Jay makes his final wish was done really beautifully. The dialogue between Jay and Nya in the lighthouse was also very well done, as the season further developed their relationship into something more. Overall, Skybound is my favorite season, and I’d say it’s one of the very few seasons worth a rewatch (the others being the Oni trilogy, Master of the Mountain, and maybe Seabound). Easy 10/10
Ok I’ve ranted enough so I’ll shut up now
